JADE Giltrow is due to start at Little Puddleducks nursery in Siston this month, just as her big brother Connor starts school and her mum goes back to work.
This is a common experience for many families each September, but it’s one that a year ago Gemma and Joey Giltrow, from Pucklechurch, could not dare to imagine.
Their daughter had been born in Southmead Hospital last August at 25 weeks, weighing just 14 ounces – 419 grams – and she was in an incubator in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with only a 50% chance of survival.
After three weeks, Jade needed surgery, which took place in Cardiff as there were no beds available in Bristol. Baby and mum then returned to St Michael’s Hospital for many more weeks of care in the NICU there.
Jade turned out to be a little fighter, and was allowed home in January, aged five months, having had three operations.
She now weighs 13lb 7 oz and is doing well. She is still under the care of medical professionals but so far few problems have been found.
Gemma said: “She has come off oxygen now and is doing well with her physio.
“She is a happy little baby. She is babbling away and she adores her brother.”
In late September Gemma and a friend are undertaking a sponsored skydive at Dunkeswell Airfield in Devon in aid of Cots for Tots, the charity for St Michael’s NICU and part of the Grand Appeal for Bristol Children’s Hospital.
Gemma, who works with adults with mental health difficulties, said she wanted to undertake the daredevil 15,000ft drop to give back to the NICU team who had supported her and her family so well.
She said: “If it wasn’t for the care from the staff and the equipment provided, Jade would not be here today and for that, I am eternally grateful. I want to do something to raise money for equipment to support other families.
“The staff in NICU were heroes, absolutely out-of-this-world people.
“When you’re in the unit, you’re in this little bubble, protected from the world outside. The staff there, and the other NICU families, all start to feel like your family and your support network.
“They laugh with you through the highs and support you through the lows – and always help you see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Gemma, who has lived in Pucklechurch all her life, also paid tribute to her family for the support they give her, helping to look after Connor, now four, and accompanying her to appointments, and to the community, especially Little Puddleducks and the village football club.
You can read more of Jade’s story at tinyurl.com/ye255b7h
To sponsor Gemma, visit tinyurl.com/4w4a39ah